IN PROGRESS: Yale West Campus

[MichaelQReilly]

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-bayer06...dlines-business

This deal seems to be a win-win for all parties. Hopefully this brings more high-tech jobs to the area and increases Connecticut's profile in biotech research.

[drc72]

It's nice to see the building have such high interest.

[HartfordTycoon]

This is interesting, I had no idea this project was going on and it sounds like it is going to be pretty massive.

Conn Business Journal

"Yale contribution's cannot be underestimated," Silverstone says. "When Yale brings in that many people, it creates all kinds of markets and activity and that's really important."

The "Yale effect" is also sweeping across West Haven, with the ongoing development of West Campus, a sprawling former Bayer facility that straddles the West Haven-Orange town line. The university announced the $100 million purchase, which includes 136 acres of land and 550,000 square feet of lab space, in 2007 and spent 2008 making key hires to oversee the project.

Scientist Michael Donoghue took the newly created post of vice president for West Campus planning and program development this fall, making him one of seven Yale senior VPs. A professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale, he had been running the Peabody Museum of Natural History before his promotion.

West Campus will be developed in stages over the next five years, Donoghue told the Yale Daily News last month. The facility once housed 3,000 Bayer workers and was bought to bolster Yale's research capabilities, university officials have said.

Labs in genomics, chemical screening and RNA interference will be moved to West Campus, along with a portion of Peabody Museum's collections, Donoghue said.

The university also lured New Haven Police Chief Francisco Ortiz away from the city to take the post senior director of public security for West Campus early this year. Although dogged by criticism of his management style and a series of corruption scandals, Ortiz was praised by Yale officials for his experience and community ties. He is also expected to help advance Yale's quest for state accreditation of its police force.

Although Yale scientists have not officially moved in yet, the university has already given the municipalities of West Haven and Orange $600,000 in voluntary payments in lieu of taxes and given West Haven $150,000 toward a new fire truck.

"There are so many good things that have come out of that relationship," West Haven Mayor John Picard says. "The future of his region has never looked brighter."

Picard says he meets with Yale officials monthly to discuss the progress at West Campus and economic-development issues in his city.

"The majority of the people of West Haven are very excited about having Yale here," Picard says. "I think you'll see a lot more action in the coming year."

[HartfordTycoon]

Yale Daily News

Yale Daily News

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Published: Thursday, May 1, 2008

West Campus no new Old Campus

By Raymond Carlson and Thomas Kaplan

Staff Reporter, Staff Reporter

WEST HAVEN, Conn.

[The Voice of Reason]

http

://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/Yale-Buy...us-t39384.html

Its just crazy how much Yale is doing.

I wish we have New Haven people to keep us better informed on these projects. we get a little snip here and there from the paper and most things are not posted. let alone pictures!